Why Hand in Hand Was More Than Just A Fundraiser for Hurricane Relief [OPINION]
What we saw on Tuesday across our televisions was about more than just money.
On Tuesday, September 12, we saw Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief. What started as an idea to have a few people come together and ask for donations in a few cities across a few networks, quickly turned into an all-hands-on-deck situation among the elite. Each day I looked at the website and watched the list of names, networks, websites, etc. grow and grow.
Then it happened.
American tuned in and donations started to pour in. More than $44 million was raised to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Irma. I sat in disbelief of who was there answering the phones.
Look at the photo above. We see Steve Buscemi, Bruce Willis, Al Pacino, Sam Smith, Malin Ackerman, Uzo Aduba, and Tracy Morgan. That was just a portion of the table. Others involved that I can think of off of the top of my head; Ryan Seacrest, Chris Paul, Michael Strahan, Oprah, Justin Bieber, Cher, Selena Gomez, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, George Strait... The list is so incredibly long.
See what I'm seeing?
We saw celebrities from all walks of life, facets of fame, and professions. They all came together to be a part of what matters. And what matters is people. I think this is exactly what our country needed to see. Forget all of the political junk that is thrown our way and the jaded newscasts that are geared more at radicalizing than informing. What we saw on Tuesday was unity, community, love. This is what our nation and our world needs. We may never be the perfect picture of Mayberry, but we can certainly look at one another as our neighbors on this planet instead of inconveniences. We can put ourselves back to together again.
And we can do it... Hand in hand.